An Italian architect and MIT's Senseable City Lab have teamed up to create an air-conditioning system that only cools when it detects a person underneath it, cutting energy and water costs in sweltering desert locations like Dubai.

New York City's subway system shut down at midday today, as the city prepared for the arrival of Hurricane Irene, which made landfall in North Carolina early this morning and began its expected journey up the East Coast of the United States.